Lectures 1 and 2

Important Definitions:

Consumer Buying Behavior  – The decision processes and purchasing activities of people who purchase products for personal or household use and not for business purposes

Psychological Influences  – Factors that in part determine people’s general behavior, thus influencing their behavior as consumers; examples include consumer perceptions, motives, ability to learn, attitudes, personality characteristics, self-concepts, and lifestyles

Social Influences  – The forces other people exert on one’s buying behavior; examples include consumer roles, family, reference group members, opinion leaders, social classes, cultures, and subcultures

 

 

Psychological and Social Influences on Consumer Behavior Summary:

            As consumers, we make purchase decisions for a variety of reasons. As seen in Chapter 7 of the Pride and Ferrell textbook, consumers making purchase decisions that require some level of cognitive thought process often move through a decision process.  Although we often develop our own thought processes and adapt our overall decision process to fit our individual needs and wants, it is accepted that most consumers become repetitive in their cognitive consumption decision-making.

            This consumer decision-making process has important implications for organizations because each organization making products available to consumers would like to be considered or remembered in this process. Therefore, from an organizational prospective, it is critical to understand 1) the process by which consumers make decisions, 2) what factors influence these decisions, and 3) which of these factors influence consumption decisions to the greatest degree. Two critical factors impacting consumer decisions today are psychological and social influences (defined above).

            Psychological influences have increased in importance as a consumer’s ability to learn about products has become much easier. Although the internet and the information available on it is often misused as a crutch to explain a large number of trends and experiences in marketing today, organizations cannot deny that the internet has made access to product information and comparison easier for the ultimate consumer. (For more information on consumers’ reliance of online product reviews, see https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/). Consequently, as consumers have access to greater amounts of information that can potentially impact their consumption experiences, organizations are finding that it is critical to not only provide consumption-specific information, but to make it readily accessible. A critical implication from this process is that organizations that do not provide the type of consumption information desired by consumers are allowing consumer to develop negative attitudes about the organization and its products.

            A developing psychologically-driven business phenomenon is lifestyle marketing.  Pride and Ferrell define a lifestyle as “an individual’s pattern of living expressed through activities, interests, and opinions (page 228).” Additionally, the same authors suggest that “Lifestyle patterns include the ways people spend time, the extent of their interaction with others, and their general outlook on life and living” (page 228). A variety of organizations have developed marketing campaigns designed both to identify potentially-profitable lifestyle segments and to reach this consumption group through product sales.  (I am leaving it up to you, the students, to identify which organizations fit this description in your discussion.) However, there is an inherent danger in targeting consumers based on their lifestyles. Research suggests that certain organizations have actually created negatives in the minds of a broad range of consumers by placing a significant emphasis on reaching certain smaller groups of consumers based on lifestyle. In other words, large groups of consumers are making decisions to NOT buy certain brands because they do not “fit” into the lifestyle associated with the brand.  Therefore, established or potentially lucrative target segments are lost to what often are considered more bland or generic competitors simply because these competitors have maintained a more mainstream marketing plan for their brands.

 

Question 1 :  As previously mentioned, the availability of consumption-related information on the internet has made consumer learning much easier. How has the availability of this information impacted other specific psychological influences of consumption? For example, has the availability of this information made it easier for us as consumers to change our attitudes toward certain brands?

 

Question 2 :  Which organizations have been successful at identifying and marketing to specific lifestyle segments? What makes certain lifestyle segments better options for organizations than others? Additionally, what organizations have suffered because of their reliance on targeting specific lifestyle segments? Are there other organizations that might be headed for the same damaging outcome in the near future?

 

 

            The second influence presented in this discussion, social influence, has been a topic of much academic research in marketing. A significant amount of this research is focused on determining who, within a consumer’s group of social influences, has the greatest impact on a consumer and the consumption decisions he or she makes As seen in the definition of social influences, a consumer has a variety of individuals or groups that can impact purchase decisions.  It is also important to note that consumers are not always proactively seeking the information that these sources provide. For example, younger consumers are often counseled by their parents as to what constitutes a practical purchase decision. However, given the option of where to obtain information that will help lead to a purchase decision, many younger consumers will opt to consult with friends or peers, where the importance of practical purchases is often deemed unimportant.

            A second popular research stream involving social influences on consumers compares the impact of these social influences with the impact of media-related influences. A significant amount of research has attempted to determine what types of consumers are more influenced by media promotion than social influences. As consumers, we are inundated with information from a multitude of sources trying to influence us to purchase certain brands of products. Who do we trust? What information leads us to buy one brand over another? Through what channel can organizations best reach their target market?

            Think about a very simple decision that most of us make every day:  We are thirsty and would like something to drink. SOME (but nowhere near all) of the consumption decisions that need to be made, and that are based primarily on some type of social influence, are listed below.

 

a)         Which product category to consume?

b)         Which brand within this product category to consume?

c)         What flavor of the brand within this product category to consume?

 

            If this decision is based on personal taste preference, the decision is usually rather easy. However, research indicates that many consumers will select a beverage based on factors other than taste, many of which are socially motivated. We might choose to purchase a drink based on what is endorsed by our favorite celebrity (social), our family’s history of drink consumption (social), or the expected and accepted drink of choice at our place of work (social). The decision might also involve the motivation of appearing health conscious in front of colleagues (social), the opinion of a reference group member who has identified his or her beverage of choice (social), or the positive or negative expectations associated with specific cultures (social) and their product selections.  Although most of us would agree that we do not go through a cognitive thought process this extensive when making a simple beverage purchase, the social ramifications of the purchase CAN be far-reaching. Finally, to drive this point home, all of these social-based factors might play a role in a purchase decision for a product as inexpensive and insignificant as a beverage. Think about how the impact of a specific social factor exponentially increases in importance as the price associated with the purchase or the social significance of the purchase increases.

 

Question 3 :  Which groups of consumers are more likely to be influenced by social influences as compared to mass media influences? What makes these groups of consumers (or target markets) more receptive to social influences than to mass media influences? What role does culture or sub-culture play in this distinction?